Hub and Spoke is a system of
distribution of goods, passengers and data, in which the items to be distributed are routed in to
/ out through a center point. This system
is widely used in transportation (air & sea) and also in supply chains. The
Hub & spoke model is named for the bicycle wheel, which has a stable centre
part connecting to multiple spokes which holds the wheel.
In maritime industry the hub and
spoke model is used for transhipment of containers. Transhipment is a process
of moving containers from one ship to another keeping a port as a temporary
buffer storage area. So, the hub and spoke maritime network has a fixed centre point called HUB (transhipment)
PORT , which connects short distance cargo ports called feeder ports by spokes
namely feeder ships. The hub port generally will be geographically a central
location, which has an easy access to the region. Colombo is a popular hub port
for Indian Sub-Continent region.
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| Hub & Spoke Transshipment Port - Colombo |
The Shipping lines chose hub ports in strategic regions to
achieve economy of scale and to optimise services.
How shipping lines do chose hub
ports? The choice depends on the line’s overall logistics strategy and the
seaport’s geographical, strategical, economical, physical, political,
environmental and inter-modal advantages.
The hub and spoke system also is used in intersection transhipments
where in the hub port act as a point for changing containers from one long
distance ship to another long distance one , continent to continent
transhipments. Example of Rotterdam port is given below.
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